Saab Agonistes: John Phillips on the Death of the Swedish Brand

The pioneering marque is dead, maybe for good this time.

‘‘This is the blackest day in my career and probably also the blackest day in the history of Saab,” said Victor Muller, the manufacturer’s chairman and CEO, after filing the documents necessary to effect the Swedish company’s bankruptcy. “It makes me extraordinarily sad, devastated. But it also makes me very angry because I know this was absolutely unnecessary.”

Muller uttered those comments on December 19, 2011, after former Saab principal General Motors blocked a rescue plan in which Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile would become Saab’s largest investor. GM didn’t just balk. It flatly refused to approve the vital license transfers—citing China’s dismal record of protecting patents and copyrights—which could have put GM in the position of competing with its own intellectual property. Without GM’s approval, the licensing agreements for the Saab 9-3, 9-5, and 9-4X are expected to be terminated. And without those cars, as Muller points out, any new investor is “buying an empty factory” until Saab’s proprietary PhoeniX platform can be put into production.

Saab’s roots reach back to Svenska Aero Aktiebolaget, an aircraft constructor established in 1921. But the company’s first automobile was a prototype of the model 92—shown to the public in June 1947 and going into production two years later, with only three examples leaving the factory daily. The two-stroke 92’s distended egg shape would characterize all of the company’s offerings for the next 30 years.

Saab’s initial cadre of engineers focused on low mass, slick aerodynamics, fuel economy, front-wheel drive, and structural integrity. In fact, a Saab engineer asserted that the model 92 was about four times torsionally stiffer than contemporary American cars and that the prototype offered a drag coefficient of only 0.32.

Saab made its U.S. debut at the New York auto show in 1956, and the company’s cars would feature factory-installed safety belts by 1958, contributing to the brand’s much-cited “quirkiness.”

For much of its history, Saab earned an international reputation for its rallying excellence, with driver Erik “On the Roof” Carlsson winning the Monte Carlo rally in 1962 and ’63.

Saab 9000 Turbo

In America, the marque began acquiring mainstream luster following the 1967 introduction of the model 99—the first Saab with its ignition switch between the seats—along with the eccentric but affable V-4 Sonett sports car, which we described as feeling home-built. Saab struck gold with its 900 lineup in 1980, capitalizing on its already established forced-induction prowess and fashioning a performance icon—the 900 Turbo—that eventually sold more than 900,000 copies. It was the company’s single-biggest hit.

Saab’s last great gasps included the near-luxury 9000, unveiled in May 1984, and the modernized 900, shown in July 1993.

In December, when Muller addressed the 3400 employees at Saab’s Trollhättan plant, they unexpectedly clapped and cheered. Muller, who felt he had failed them, was overcome by emotion. “We could have been profitable [in 2012],” he said of the company in which he personally invested 13 million euros—“a sum also gone.” Muller, who has struggled heroically to save Saab since ­critical negotiations began in April 2011, noted that 50 to 75 interested parties had contacted him, but only five were “motivated.” He described GM’s abandonment as “basically the last nail in the coffin of this beautiful company,” although another deep-pocket investor could theoretically materialize. “We did the best we could,” he added. “Now, the only thing that people will remember is that we failed.”